The armed group Islamic Resistance in Iraq says it has attacked the Al-Harir base in northern Iraq, reports Reuters. There are American soldiers at the base.
American security forces deny that the base has been attacked, writes Reuters in an update.
At the same time, Al Jazeera writes that several militia sources say that in the morning they attacked the Al-Tanf base in Syria and the Ain al-Asad base in western Iraq.
Both house American soldiers. On the latter there are also around 30 Norwegian soldiers.
The defense denies
The Ain al-Asak base has previously been subjected to several attacks. But Saturday everything is as normal.
– We have spoken to our Norwegian force commander at the Ain al-Asad base in Iraq, and the base is not under attack. It is a normal situation there now, says Hanne Olafsen, spokesperson at the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational headquarters, to NRK.
– The Norwegian Armed Forces have several force contributions in the Middle East, including, among other things, in Jordan, but as of now none of these are affected by the attacks in Syria and Iraq.
The Norwegian soldiers are part of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR), which since 2014 has assisted Iraq in fighting IS.
The company is called Task Force Viking, and has the task of securing the air base and the surrounding areas.
The Norwegian Armed Forces are following the situation closely and are making continuous security assessments, says Olafsen.
The Ministry of Defense also tells NRK that they are monitoring the situation.
Counterattack from the US
On Friday night, the US carried out airstrikes against at least 85 targets in Syria and Iraq.
The attacks are a response to the drone attack on an American military camp in Jordan last week, where three Americans were killed.
– Our response began today. It will continue wherever we want, whenever we want, President Joe Biden stated.
Biden has previously claimed that Iran is partly responsible for the attack. Iran itself denies having been involved.
The Syrian Ministry of Defense says, according to AFP, that the American counterattack has led to several civilians and soldiers being killed.
At the same time, 16 people have been killed in Iraq, including several civilians, the Iraqi prime minister told Reuters.
Iraq condemns the counterattacks by the United States.